The Affordable Care Act and private employers are pushing doctors to consider patient satisfaction more than in the past, according to an analysis by the Medical Group Management Association. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

About four in five doctor practices considered “better performers” conduct patient satisfaction surveys, which are expected to take on more importance as private insurance companies and government health plans move away from fee-for-service payment under the Affordable Care Act.

The Medical Group Management Association, in a new 2013 report out this month, said “almost 80 percent” of practices the group deems better performers conducts patient satisfaction surveys. This is an increase from 76 percent of better performing practices that conducted patient satisfaction surveys in 2007.

The move to patient satisfaction surveys is critical as the Affordable Care Act and private insurers and employers move away from fee-for-service payment to approaches that emphasize more accountable care.

“If you look at today’s environment under the ACA, patient experience is going to become more important,” said Todd Evenson, vice president of consulting services and data solutions at MGMA, which represents more than 33,000 medical practices in the U.S. “It is not clear what vehicle they are going to use as to how quality is evaluated but there will likely be clinical as well patient experience components the value equation.”

For example, quality may be defined as whether or not a patient received aspirin after a cardiac event had occurred. In the future, quality will also include whether or not the patience felt they received good service.

With accountable care programs, the insurer contracts with some providers that are forming patient-centered medical homes whereby physicians are paid to encourage patients to get medical care upfront in the clinic, health center or doctor’s office where costs are lower than a hospital, particularly in an emergency room. Health plans are also linking to accountable care organizations (ACOs), which reward providers for working together to improve quality and to control costs.

MGMA said nearly 10 percent of “better-performing practices” cited using satisfaction survey results from their patients in the physician compensation formula.

“Successful groups actively and regularly solicit feedback from their patients,” Kenneth Hertz, principal of the MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, in a statement the association put out accompanying its report. “Patient satisfaction surveys give practices an immense amount of detail on their patients' experience, and that feedback is particularly useful as medical groups seek to improve and elevate the care they provide.”